JP Donovan gets Godspeed’s backing
The specialized infrastructure construction outfit is looking to further build out its delivery capacity for space and defense programs. JP Donovan, a general contracting firm that focuses on specialized infrastructure construction, has received an investment from private equity firm Godspeed Capital Management to support the company’s space and defense growth efforts. JP Donovan opened for business […]
Trump memo pushes national security agencies to move faster on AI
The directive calls for deeper partnerships with AI companies while directing agencies to guard frontier models and the data centers that power them from foreign adversaries. President Donald Trump on Friday signed a national security memo aimed at speeding up government use of advanced artificial intelligence across the military and intelligence community, while also trying to […]
Blue Origin rocket explosion shows ‘fragility’ of national-security launch plans
Space Force efforts to breed more competitors aren’t keeping up with ever-increasing demand for rockets. Hours after a Blue Origin rocket blew up on a Florida launch pad last month, a SpaceX rocket lofted a military payload from a nearby site—neatly illustrating concerns about whether the commercial launch industry can actually add providers quickly enough to […]
Apex, Axiom and Impulse Space detail their newest venture rounds
Each company is focusing on efforts to expand manufacturing capacity and other aspects of scaling out their businesses. Apex The satellite and bus producer has secured $200 million in growth capital to support work on expanding its manufacturing campus and ramping up vertical integration of subsystems. Apex started in 2022 to design and build productized buses […]
Quantum Space agrees on transaction that will take it public
Quantum Space is looking to ride the wave of investor interest in the sector as SpaceX’s initial public offering looms over the capital markets. Quantum Space, a satellite manufacturer led by former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, has agreed to a transaction that will take the company public four years after its founding. Quantum Space said Monday […]
How supply chain crises emerge with faulty assumptions
Commercial supply chains are built to operate in a different world and that often conflicts with how government agencies base their budgets and timelines, writes Don Baker. In large federal programs, the earliest expectations often become the hardest risks to unwind, especially when those expectations are built on commercial supply chains that cannot support government requirements. […]
House lawmakers want the Navy to deploy drone boats faster
A draft of the 2027 defense policy bill would push service leaders to develop a clear strategy. The Navy would have to detail its plans to buy and use seagoing drones under a suite of provisions in the House Armed Services Committee’s draft 2027 defense policy bill. The bill, which passed out of committee late Thursday, […]
WT 360: All about AE Industrial’s place in the market’s private capital action
Kirk Konert, managing partner at AE Industrial Partners, describes his firm’s approach of aligning investment decisions with government priorities and tells the story of how two portfolio companies hit the public markets. We have taken a deeper dive into the government market’s private investment landscape in recent weeks by hearing the viewpoints of a banker […]
PDW acquires communications tech, engineering specialist
The maker of small uncrewed aircraft sees this move as part of its vertical integration strategy. Drone maker PDW has agreed to acquire an engineering services provider that specializes in communications technologies with an eye toward incorporating those smaller-form products into unmanned aircraft. Vanteon opened for business in 1985 and employs 40 engineers that focus on […]
A handful of CEO-level transitions and more leadership moves across the market
Key promotions and hires focused on investment activity, technology development, operations and finance also feature in this listing. Austal USA Gene Miller has been appointed president of the shipbuilder on a full-time basis after having worked as its interim leader in the four months following Michelle Kruger’s retirement. Austal USA is a 3,500-employee subsidiary of its parent […]